Road death second tragedy for family

THE MOTHER of two who was killed in a road incident in Connemara this week was sister-in-law of an Irish US army corporal who died five years ago in Afghanistan.

Anna Durkin (46), of Eanach Mheáin in west Galway, was hit by a car at Baile na hAbhann, close to TG4’s premises, on Wednesday night and died at University Hospital Galway.

Mrs Durkin ran her family’s post office and supermarket at Baile na hAbhann, and her husband Eoin lost his sister Ciara, a corporal in the US National Guard, in a shooting in Afghanistan in September 2007.

“Anna was a lovely kind woman with two young sons, who was continually warning customers at the post office and shop to be careful crossing the road,” said retired parish priest Fr Colm Ó Ceannabháin.

“I saw tears rolling down people’s eyes here today because she was so very nice and kind and would listen to your story,” he said. “All we can say now is that she is at peace. It is a mark of the family’s concern for their customers that they made alternative arrangements for post office customers and notified the community on Raidio na Gaeltachta,” Fr Ó Ceannabháin said.

Gardaí are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, which occurred at about 6pm on the R336 on Wednesday. The driver of the car was uninjured, and the road was closed overnight to facilitate examination by Garda experts.

The ashes of Mrs Durkin’s sister-in-law, Ciara (30), were buried near her home in Eanach Mheáin, in October, 2007, after a funeral service with full military honours in Boston. Cpl Durkin was serving in the finance unit of the Massachusetts National Guard’s 26th unit’s Task Force Diamond when she was shot at an army compound in what the family believes to be unexplained circumstances.